Go to prespawn topwater..

[DitchPanda]

Pretty straightforward... When the fish are starting to think about doin tha deed what top water you picking up? 

[cdlittle]

Weightless fluke

[TnRiver46]

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten them with topwater . They like it a lot better in summer, fall, and sometimes dead of winter 

[PhishLI]

49 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

When the fish are starting to think about doin tha deed what top water you picking up? 

If you'd asked this question this time last year I would've suggested quite a list. In my immediate area top water baits ruled from March 1st through May 1st. Rats, 75mm wakes, Bull Wakes, Shellcracker G2, etc. The best of the bunch by a mile was the Whopper Plopper 75 in perch, even up until the last day before the closer.

 

I haven't gotten one yet this season on the WP, and nothing else on a typical small wake until a few weekends ago, but that was at a lake far away from home, and that wake was cranked down. Any G2 fish I've gotten has been when it was cranked down. Same for my brother and my other friends. Had to be cranked down, and I know where to be and when.

 

So, I've really got nuthin' for you. I was surprised last year at how early they were hitting topwater here, but zip so far. Go figure. Try what you've got and let the fish tell you.

[Bass Rutten]

My pick is not what some would consider a topwater but I twitch a weightless trick worm in and around beds and open areas with shallow weeds, it stays very close to the surface and if worked at a good clip it'll stay on top, my best day this year so far was with this technique.

[the reel ess]

Whopper Plopper. You can get some big females to bite it, prespawn or even postspawn when they're still shallowish. I like the 110 best, but I scale it down to the 90 model after spawn if the bites stop.

[Deleted account]

Fishing a large top water aggressively and stopping it over a large spawner is a thing, My favorite lure by far for that is a ******** 

[the reel ess]

Just now, BassWhole! said:

Fishing a large top water aggressively and stopping it over a large spawner is a thing, My favorite lure by far for that is a ******** 

A what?

[RDB]

Since you said prespawn, I assume you mean staging fish (not bedding).  For me, it depends on how aggressive I want to be which may depend on cover, water clarity, and chop.  A plopper or buzzbait on the aggressive end and a downsized popper or weightless fluke for less aggressive.  Everything is in play in the middle.  A frog or buzzbait if I want to skip docks.

[WRB]

8” wood Lunker Plunker, Balsa Sammy and Double Buzzer.

Tom

[Deleted account]

20 hours ago, PhishLI said:

If you'd asked this question this time last year I would've suggested quite a list. In my immediate area top water baits ruled from March 1st through May 1st. Rats, 75mm wakes, Bull Wakes, Shellcracker G2, etc. The best of the bunch by a mile was the Whopper Plopper 75 in perch, even up until the last day before the closer.

 

I haven't gotten one yet this season on the WP, and nothing else on a typical small wake until a few weekends ago, but that was at a lake far away from home, and that wake was cranked down. Any G2 fish I've gotten has been when it was cranked down. Same for my brother and my other friends. Had to be cranked down, and I know where to be and when.

 

So, I've really got nuthin' for you. I was surprised last year at how early they were hitting topwater here, but zip so far. Go figure. Try what you've got and let the fish tell you.

Interesting, I'm seeing very similar results here. Last year "Godzilla had nothin' on me!" I caught numbers and size from early March through early May (When I had to leave on mobilization) almost at will. This year, I've caught a bunch of non spawners and just a few real ones. Wish I could nail down why, but haven't come up with anything. Curious to see how the post spawn goes.

[Bankbeater]

The bass around here aren't coming up on topwater baits yet.  I've been having good luck with shallow running crankbaits, and wakebaits.

[PhishLI]

18 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

Wish I could nail down why, but haven't come up with anything

I was out last week at a local spot with one of my buds who's an arborist. I remarked that the pad fields that were hearty, high, and well defined by this time last year are barely showing themselves, and super sparse where they're up at all. Weed beds are also non existent. We might snag a sprout occasionally at best. He said that his contracted scheduled business is based upon growing days, and growth is way behind so far this year. My only theory was that the oxygen levels are depressed, even though the water is cold-ish, and that's the issue with the fish chasing top water. Also, I haven't seen many random top water kill shots where they blast suspending bait. There were nights last year when the whole lake would turn on with this type of activity during April, but not so far in certain lakes.

 

However, a lake farther east with a good flow of water down its center has voluminous flourishes of grass up to the surface in spots. So it's reasonable to assume that moving water which is contributing to oxygenation is the difference maker regarding this subject. The lake where we were last week doesn't have that sort of flow at all, but there's some. Anyway, If that isn't the explanation, then I'm stumped.

[Catt]

Hollow body frog! ?

[Deleted account]

11 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

I was out last week at a local spot with one of my buds who's an arborist. I remarked that the pad fields that were hearty, high, and well defined by this time last year are barely showing themselves, and super sparse where they're up at all. Weed beds are also non existent. We might snag a sprout occasionally at best. He said that his contracted scheduled business is based upon growing days, and growth is way behind so far this year. My only theory was that the oxygen levels are depressed, even though the water is cold-ish, and that's the issue with the fish chasing top water. Also, I haven't seen many random top water kill shots when they blast suspending bait. There were nights last year when the whole lake would turn on with this type of activity during April, but not so far in particular lakes.

 

However, a lake farther east with a good flow of water down its center has voluminous flourishes of grass up to the surface in spots. So it's reasonable to assume that moving water which is contributing to oxygenation is the difference maker regarding this subject. The lake where we were last week doesn't have that sort of flow at all, but there's some. Anyway, If that isn't the explanation, then I'm stumped.

Maybe, I'm ready to blame the Chupacabra, or cicadas. We just got over 2" of rain in a little over an hour, let's see what does for tomorrow. Something is different, that's for sure.

[KCFinesse]

Black buzzbait- straight braid- heaviest junk you can get it through (although I might say that in a bunch of other circumstances as well)

 

It seems to work well in quickly warming areas or mainlake shallow staging areas with a little bit of chop. If nothing else, you can cover a ton of water either looking for active fish or the big bite spring buzzbaits are known for.

 

-Jared

[DitchPanda]

31 minutes ago, KCFinesse said:

Black buzzbait- straight braid- heaviest junk you can get it through (although I might say that in a bunch of other circumstances as well)

 

It seems to work well in quickly warming areas or mainlake shallow staging areas with a little bit of chop. If nothing else, you can cover a ton of water either looking for active fish or the big bite spring buzzbaits are known for.

 

-Jared

I was leaning towards a popper but your speaking my language. I'm a buzzbait guy.

[scaleface]

Bomber Long A Minnow in silver flash . When it is on its on "BIG" .